Rob Key is still pound-for-pound Kent's weightiest asset and will be vital to their hopes this season. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images

2010 in a nutshell A season of stagnation: relegated from Division One at the first time of asking. One win away from a 40-over semi-final, but were unusually stodgy in Twenty20, where they lost six out of eight home matches as their vaunted openers, in particular, struggled.

How they finished

LV County Championship Eighth in Division One

CB40 Second in Group C

Friends Provident Twenty20 Seventh in South Group

What they'll be playing in this season

LV County Championship Division Two

CB40 Group A

Friends Life t20 South Group

Captain Rob Key. Likable, shrewd and England-fringe quality, but enjoyed a long lean spell with the bat last summer. Still pound-for-pound Kent's weightiest asset and will be vital to the season's hopes.

Coach/head of cricket Paul Farbrace. A second season in charge for the popular former wicketkeeper turned England Under-19 coach, turned Sri Lanka No2. Sustained a minor injury on the Sri Lanka team bus when it was fired at by terrorists in Pakistan in 2009.

Overseas players Makhaya Ntini made a big impression off the pitch last year and is keen to come back, perhaps as a Kolpak. Can Kent afford him? Can they afford anyone?

Key player Sam Northeast. A breakthrough season for the preciously talented Northeast, a run-scoring phenomenon as a Harrow schoolboy, would give everyone something to smile about. Looks likely to be promoted to No3 for the start of the season.

Finance factor Threatened by the reduction in Twenty20 cricket from 2012, meaning they get to play only five home fixtures having just installed floodlights at the St Lawrence Ground, funds are tight. Lancashire are already said to be casting admiring glances in the direction of Martin van Jaarsveld.

Prediction for 2011: Fourth in Division Two The bowling stocks look thin. Much will depend on whether Farbrace, a former academy director, can tease the best out of his blend of youth and codgers squad, which features seven players aged 25 or under and five over 34.